Voxpop

I was a teenage cinephile and the BFI’s Sight & Sound was a revelation, the natural next step after Time Out’s then superb film section. I devoured old copies in my university library and took out a subscription. I still have my first issue (summer 1976) with insightful essays on Taxi Driver, The Man Who Fell to Earth and the rise of the American film critic. It’s a film education. I’ve barely missed an issue since then.

Rick Poynor, Writer

Without sounding too girlie, Twinkle magazine rocked my world in the early 1970s. It really fired my imagination and I even had a dolls hospital set up on the landing at home inspired by Nurse Nancy. Polly’s Magic Paintbox must have been an early influence on my career in art and design. I can also trace some classic Viz characters back to Twinkle (Bob Faced Betty – genius). Later, I was seduced by The Beano, becoming a dedicated member of the Dennis the Menace fan club (and was a proud owner of the Gnasher badge with moving eyes).

Paula Benson, Partner, Form

Growing up in Canada, age eight and showing early signs of car madness, my father gave me a subscription to Car Styling magazine. It was amazing. Each issue was full of magic discoveries. The cover pictures of beautiful Italian cars and the stories about how they were created seduced me into design and over to Britain. Getting my picture on the cover in 1982 along with my Royal College of Art classmates was a magic moment that closed a circle.

Gus Desbarats, Chairman, The Alloy

Growing up in the 1970s with two older sisters meant I was exposed to lots of titles. I can’t say I had a favourite – loyalty was reserved for whoever had the next free gift. My Guy, Cosmopolitan, Jackie, Over 21 – a mini-branch of WH Smith was just a bedroom away. I only ever saw about 65 per cent of any Vogue spread as my sister forbade me from opening the pages too far for fear of creasing the cover. So, for the delight of being able to crack the spine of my own copies in my late teens, I’d have to say Vogue.

Violetta Boxill-Roope, Creative director, Alexander Boxill

As a ’magazinoholic’, I couldn’t offer just one title. In the 1950s it was the Eagle with Frank Bellamy’s brilliant Dan Dare strip. Photoplay, for my burgeoning interest in cinema. National Geographic (for the American motorcar ads). In the 1960s Films & Filming and Town magazine for my then new passion for graphic design. Later came Twen and Nova. Today, it’s Sight & Sound, plus anything I can lay my hands on.

Mike Dempsey, Studio Dempsey